Phantom Blade Zero Hands-On Preview + Impressions – It feels like I’ve been seeing trailers for Phantom Blade Zero for a long time now. Across various State of Play presentations and events, it’s been a game that I’ve kept my eyes on for a while, while also never fully understanding what I was looking at. After an extensive hands-on go with a near final build of the game, I now feel confident in saying Phantom Blade Zero is well worth keeping your eyes on later this month.
My four hour session essentially set me loose through the opening chapter of the game, with engaging combat, interesting level design and a strong narrative premise that kept me moving throughout the demo. After beating the first area boss, I was left hopeful for the rest of the game, even if inspirations are patently clear.
Phantom Blade Zero Hands-On Preview + Impressions – A Soulful Impression
Ticking Clock
I went into my preview with Phantom Blade Zero pretty cold, all things considered. I wasn’t fully aware of the premise of the game, nor what type of game it even was, in truth. But an incredibly dynamic and bold opening told me that there was something very special here.
The main character of the game is mortally injured in conflict, and has the option of two hearts to try and extend his life beyond just dying. The heart that he’s chosen gives him 100 days of life, in which he searches for a more permanent solution than the measly third of a year. While my hands-on session didn’t give me a proper look into anything beyond the beginning of that journey, I can only imagine that the story will eventually have us obsessing over the last few days on the clock.
It’s a potent framing device that immediately creates tension out of nothing, and a strong drive to move forward; between that and the absurd set pieces, action-game enjoyers will be served well on Soul’s journey to save himself. Soul is a relatively stoic character, but his allies (and enemies) are all animated enough to be a fun contrast. The boss of the first major area is a delightfully weird psychopath who will stop at nothing to kill Soul. It’s nice that it isn’t taking itself so seriously that there isn’t some room for levity.
Action, Action, Action
If there’s one thing that’s stood out in all of the promotion for Phantom Blade Zero, it’s the combat. It is rare that I see choreography that feels so tight, yet dynamic, but I found myself utterly mesmerised by the way that combat is built, for the most part.
You’ll be breaking down enemy stance meters in order to deal devastating damage, and that’s done through a mixture of simple rock-paper-scissors design, and patient parrying in the face of more dangerous foes. There are also enemies with specific parry conditions, which is an area I particularly struggled to parse. I’ll chalk it down to not knowing the game as well as I could for now, but it’s something that stood out to me, and also seemed to resonate with others during my hands-on.
This is a formula that has stood the test of time, but Phantom Blade Zero at the very least injects it with an absurd style that I couldn’t help but love. The very first encounter of the main game has protagonist Soul fighting off enemies on the top of a moving carriage before meeting the first major boss.
Without having the opportunity to see much how it evolves, the momentum it starts with is admirable if nothing else.
From Fight to Gory Fight
Perhaps the most interesting discovery in my time with Phantom Blade Zero is the extent to which the game lets you explore outside of its combat arenas. Each area of the game is presented as a broad area with multiple checkpoints in each, and characters to talk to and quests to complete on the map.
None of these areas are meant to be open-world, but offer enough in terms of verticality and complexity to feel worth exploring. You’ll find resources to upgrade equipment, new weapons with unique attributes to play with, and even new characters with small stories to see. It’s great stuff, though I wonder just how deep the rabbit hole goes with customisation. So far, it feels like there might be a one-way street, with the skill tree feeling a bit vestigial.
I’ll hold out on judgement until the game releases.
Boss Fights Galore
To the surprise of nobody, Phantom Blade Zero trades extensively in hallmark boss fights. Regular enemies are relatively easy to dispatch with the right tools, but each boss has a dynamic approach to combat that is both visually interesting, and mechanically engaging.
I fought a handful of bosses across my four-hour session, and even out of the ones I can speak to you about, each of them brought something fantastic to the table. Unique movesets and attacks to counter, before steadily weaving my way around them to defeat them once and for all.
In these moments, Phantom Blade Zero delivers on its promise of that kung-fu choreography, and I literally cannot wait to see what some of the endgame encounters have in store if this is just the first area. If I have any one concern, it’s with the use of sidearms in combat. There were a handful of occasions where I needed to attack an enemy with one of my “phantom arms,” a set of bonus weapons with situational uses.
In exploration, they’re effectively environmental keys. But in combat, they completely slow you down for a small amount of time, and must be used judiciously. My issue is that these weapons end up feeling like a trudge. Maybe it’s just the starting ones, but I can’t see myself having the chance to effectively use a lumbering axe when my base weapons are so much snappier.
And when each weapon has a unique ability to call its own, some of them being incredibly transformative to the general flow of combat, I’m even further hesitant to use something that will totally stop me in my tracks.
A Visual Marvel
Tying this all together is an electric visual style that goes well beyond its Chinese influences. The first area of the game is punctuated by ethereal red threads that serve as signposts as well as visual flourishes.
Areas that you explore are intricately constructed to be both engaging and fun to explore, with more of an emphasis on industry than I was expecting. Steampunk fortresses with all kinds of furnaces inside, small hamlets on the outskirts of enemy bases, and sprawling valleys.
Again, not talking about anything beyond my opening stint, I cannot wait to see some areas in more detail in the final releases, because the tastes I got were demonstrably braver than just standard settings. The same goes for bosses, that all have marvellous designs that blend gameplay and storytelling fantastically.
While I can’t quite give a definitive review just yet, I can say that Phantom Blade Zero is an ambitious game that seems to be making all the right decisions to send us back to the golden age of the action genre. A fair but meaty difficulty curve, incredible choreography, it was amazing to see it all come together during my hands-on.
I look forward to seeing Soul’s journey through to its end
Phantom Blade Zero launches on PlayStation 5 on October 28, 2026.